First Kiss
by 1-800fangirl
Summary: "We asked 30 strangers to kiss for the first time. The purpose of this was to determine the difference of first and last impressions a person had of another. All they had to do was talk with the other person, look them in the eyes, and then kiss them." Fairy Tail AU, list of couples inside. Based off the YouTube video uploaded by Tatia PIlieva. Current Chapter: Stingue
1. Prologue

**Greetings, fellow Fairy Tail fans. This is a story featuring a bunch of Fairy Tail couples [see below]. It is based off the YouTube video "First Kiss", uploaded by Tatia PIlieva. Search it up if you're curious. Basically, the couples that will kiss have NEVER met before. Why? Because this is an AU, and I can do that. Each couple will have one chapter, and the chapters will not be in any particular order. It might go from Lories to Jerza to Happy x Charle. The ONLY time there will be an 'order' is with Wendy, because she has two versions: Wendy x Chelia and RoWen, and the order listed below is the order Wendy's versions will be in. Now, if you leave comments asking for me to hurry and upload a particular ship, I might be inclined to upload that one before others. And if you want me to do a ship that is not listed, leave a comment or PM me requesting it. If I get enough requests for different ships, I might upload a "First Kiss 2" with** ** _those_** **ships in it. Last but not least, when I'm reaching the final chapters of this story, I will set up a poll on my profile with ALL of the couples listed. Top 5 couples with most votes will get a personal epilogue of what happens** ** _after_** **the events of the kiss.**

 **These are the couples in this story (in no particular order):** NaLu, GaLe, Gruvia, Jerza, Zervis, Miraxus, Elfgreen, Bixanna, Happy x Charle, Wendy x Chelia (Wendy V.1), RoWen (Wendy V.2), Aquario, Lories, Stingue, and AlBis.

 **Note:** I do not curse, and I don't condone cursing. However, for the sake of characterization, some characters appear cursing, although it is censored. For example, b**** and f***. Also, there ARE gays and lesbians in this. Got a problem with that? Don't read those particular chapters, or leave right now. No sexuality is wrong, so I made sure to include Stingue and Wendy x Chelia for that reason.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Fairy Tail nor do I own the video "First Kiss".

Prologue

 _"We asked 30 strangers to kiss for the first time."_

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"I cannot believe _Erza_ , of all people, is late," Lucy said in a tone laced with impatience and disbelief. "She's _never_ late. I mean, she normally yells at _us_ when we take too long." The blonde gasped. "Is this a chance for us to turn everything around and take control?!"

Levy giggled at her best friend. "I think you might be overreacting, Lu-chan," she said, her voice matter-of-fact as usual. "Erza has been late before. You _are_ right about it being a rare occurrence, though."

"I can understand Juvia being late," Lucy continued as if her blue-haired friend had never spoken, "but _Erza_? What on Earth could be holding her up?"

The bluenette shrugged. "Whatever it is, it must be interesting if it's causing her to be so late for this."

The blonde laughed. "So it's probably strawberry cake or something, right?"

Levy joined in on her friend's laughter. "Most likely!"

"Pardon me," a formal voice said, interrupting their conversation. "I apologize for the intrusion, but I was wondering if you two ladies would like to take part in a social experiment?"

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Juvia anxiously bit her lip, hoping that the scarlet-haired girl beside her would stop ogling at the cake behind the bakery window. Unfortunately, the bluenette was having no such luck, for Erza's greedy gaze remained steadfast on it. "Erza-san…" she said timidly.

Erza didn't tear her gaze away from the cake, but instead tilted her head slightly to the side to show that she had acknowledged the girl's question. "Yes, Juvia?"

"Well… Juvia thinks we should hurry up because Lucy-san and Levy-san are waiting for us, and Juvia and Erza are already late…"

"Nonsense!" Erza said loudly, attracting the attention of many people passing by.

Juvia's cheeks turned pink from embarrassment. "Erza-san, Juvia feels that –"

"We may not be there on time, but they will not abandon us, for there have been many times that _they_ have been late to meet _us_ and we did not abandon them."

Juvia was tempted to protest, but she was slightly mollified by Erza's statement, not to mention her fear of the redhead's wrath overruled anything else. "Okay. Juvia understands."

"We shall leave in a moment, then," Erza concluded, "after I finish admiring this luscious cake."

Juvia sighed, only to jump in surprise when someone approached the two of them.

"My apologies for the interruption," they said, "but would you two care to take part in a social experiment?"

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"Look, Flame Brain," Gray said angrily, "I don't give a f*** about whatever we're doing. I'm only here as a favor for Erza, because she doesn't trust your parenting capabilities, and rightly so!"

"Oh, is that what it is, Ice Princess?" Natsu growled. "I thought you were too terrified of Erza to refuse!"

"Like h***, bastard! _You're_ the one too scared to refuse her!"

"Look who's talking, Stripper!"

"I'm not a stripper!"

The pink-haired teen smirked. "Oh, is that so? Then where's your shirt?"

Gray looked down at his bare chest. "D*** it! Not again!"

Natsu howled with laughter as the dark-haired teen frantically looked around for his shirt.

"How about both of you shut up?" Gajeel said irritably. "You're making too much d*** noise."

"Do you wanna go, Metal-Head?" Natsu said, glaring at the pierced teen. "I'll take you on at any time!"

"Not a chance, Salamander. I'd whoop your a** too easily."

"How about we find out then, you bastard?!"

Zeref sighed at the scene unfolding in front of him. Like Gray, he had also been forced into this by Erza. However, he most likely would have gone anyway, seeing as he _did_ like his young cousin, and almost feared for her safety around the three hypercompetitive idiots. "You all need to stop arguing," he said darkly, black hair falling in his face. "You've all forgotten why we're doing this: for Wendy."

Upon hearing her name, Wendy looked up from the ground, a puzzled expression in her innocent brown eyes. "Did I do something?"

Instantly, Natsu, Gajeel, and Gray were all filled with guilt.

"Apologize," Zeref ordered, his eyes threatening, doing his best to impersonate a certain scarlet-haired woman.

"Sorry," the three teens muttered in unison.

"That's okay," Wendy said, forgiving as always. "I know you didn't mean it."

"Am I intruding?" a voice suddenly said.

The group of five turned around to see a person standing behind them.

"You're not intruding," Gray finally said. "What do you want?"

"If you're here to badmouth us," Natsu half-shouted. "Then you'd better –"

Gajeel's hand moved to cover the pink-haired teen's mouth. "Ignore him."

The person laughed nervously. "Well, I wanted to ask if all you would mind taking part in a social experiment."

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Evergreen put on a pair of round black glasses, making 'cute' expressions in the small mirror on the side of the rack as she examined how they looked on her. "Hmm… Nope. They're too nerdy." She exchanged them for a pair of rectangular tortoiseshell ones. "Not bad," she said, tucking a stand of caramel hair behind her ear, "but not too good, either." She put them up, spinning the rack around until her eyes came to rest on different pair of rectangular-shaped glasses, these being more rounded with a copper wire frame. She quickly put them on before turning to face the green-haired cowgirl beside her. "Do you think these look good on me?"

Bisca looked up from the boots catalog she was holding. "They look fine, Ever," she said before going back to reading.

Evergreen pouted. "If you're not going to give me a real answer, why should I even _ask_ you?"

"Exactly," Bisca said, turning the page. "Don't."

Evergreen rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you aren't any fun at all."

"No, I'm just not a girly girl," she corrected. She added as an afterthought, "Why am I hanging out with you again?"

"We're keeping Charle away from Wendy, remember?"

The green-haired girl frowned. "Why?"

Evergreen shrugged. "As if I know. Gajeel threatened us, remember?"

Bisca cringed, remembering the long-haired boy's evil laugh. "Oh yeah. Only too well." She looked around for the white-haired girl they were supposed to be watching. "Speaking of which, where's Charle?"

The brunette felt color drain from her face. "Did we lose her already?" She paused a moment before turning back to the mirror. "That took longer than I expected."

The cowgirl rolled her eyes. "You really do only care about yourself, don't you?" She folded the page in her magazine and tucked it underneath her arm. "Charle!" she called out. "Charle, where are you?"

"I'm right here," was the reply, irritation evident in the girl's voice. Charle stepped out from behind another rack, a pair of silver cat ears on her head. "Since I was forced to come into this store, I figured I might as well look around." She adjusted the cat ear headband. "What do you think?"

Bisca opened her mouth to respond, but someone else beat her to the punch.

"They look great, young lady. As do your new glasses, madam. But I have a question for you girls: how would you like to take part in a social experiment?"

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Elfman stared proudly at his younger sister. "That haircut is a man!" he boomed, fist-pumping the air.

Lisanna giggled at her older brother's excitement – and his amazing ability to involve 'man' in everything. She fingered her newly shortened white locks. "Do you think so? I feel like I could have left it maybe a few inches longer…"

"Oh, we _know_ so," Mirajane said airily, before giggling along with her sister. "I think it looks really good on you, Lisanna. Short hair really suits the shape of your face."

The short-haired girl blushed at the praise. "Thanks, nee-san," she said, smiling, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "I'm trusting you!"

"And of course, Chelia's haircut looks amazing, too," Mirajane added, smiling warmly at the pinkette in the seat next to Lisanna.

Chelia blushed. "Lisanna's is better," she protested. "All they did for me was trim off the split ends and put up in pigtails."

"Pigtails are a man!" Elfman exclaimed, cracking his knuckles. This caused all three girls to burst out into giggles.

When her laughter had died down, Chelia shyly said, "Thanks again for letting me tag along with you guys. You really didn't have to."

"It wasn't any trouble," Mirajane insisted. "It's a pleasure to have you with us."

"Definitely," Lisanna agreed. "Besides, since your _real_ sister couldn't take you, it's like your two honorary sisters did!"

The pinkette beamed. "You guys are so great, you know that?"

The Strauss sisters blushed.

"I don't know about that," Mirajane said, waving her hand dismissively.

"We just love to have company," Lisanna added.

Chelia rolled her eyes. "Geez, you're so modest. Accept some praise, will you?"

"Oi!" Elfman said. "I'm feel like I'm being left out of this conversation!"

Lisanna and Mirajane simply laughed at their brother's indignation, while the pinkette felt genuinely ashamed.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, "I hadn't intended to –"

"Excuse the intrusion," a different voice said, interrupting her apology, "but would all of you like to be in a social experiment?"

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Rogue sighed in exasperation, practically exhausted just by _watching_ the scene in front of him unfold.

"Happy, I don't understand how you'd rather have flight powers more than fire powers," Romeo said, arms crossed over his chest. "With fire, you've got strong offensive skills – and decent defensive ones – not to mention you can propel yourself into the air a certain extent with them. So fire gives you the best of both worlds!"

"I guess, but that's not the same thing as _real_ flight," Happy protested. "I would rather have the feeling of the wind under my wings – if I _had_ wings – as I soar through the sky – like fish!" As always, his logic was rather nonsensical and for some strange reason involved fish.

"Are you saying you don't want the feeling of controlling the most powerful element?" the dark-haired boy said skeptically.

The blue-haired boy with a set of cat ears on his head nodded eagerly. "Yup! I'd rather be able to fly in the sky!" His eyes widened. "Romeo-kun! That rhymed!"

Romeo just sighed.

Rogue turned his head to avoid watching their conversation any longer, only to see Loke off flirting with a dark-haired girl that looked ready to bolt.

"You sure you don't want to go out on a date with me?" the orange-haired boy said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "I'd love to take a pretty girl like you out."

The girl gave him a fake smile. "I wish I could say yes, but I already have plans for tonight. Sorry."

"Maybe tomorrow?"

"I've got plans tomorrow, too." She sighed as if she truly regretted not being to go out with him. "If you ever see me again, maybe I'll take you up on your offer."

Loke sighed dramatically. "I suppose that'll have to do, Princess."

She gave him another fake smile before quickly walking away.

Rogue groaned and muttered, "This is the last time I _ever_ do Natsu and Gajeel a favor without first asking them what I'm going to be doing."

"Gentlemen," a chastising voice said, drawing the attention of all four, "you're driving each other mad. But, fortunately, I have a solution. Who wants to help with a social experiment?"

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"We are!" Scorpio exclaimed, making rock n' roll signs with his hands. "This is gonna be great!"

Alzack bit back a sigh. He now wished he had forced Loke to give him a proper explanation on why Scorpio couldn't have gone with him and the others. All the orange-haired teen had said was something about Rogue not being able to stand him. He eyed the teen with half red and half white hair out of the corner of his eye. _That is perfectly understandable. Rogue I would get along just fine._

Scorpio stopped walking. "Look, Outback," he said, putting his hands on the thin cowboy's shoulders.

"Alzack…" he muttered under his breath, correcting him.

Scorpio ignored the teen. "I know you didn't want to come with me. And that's fine. If you want to go hide in a corner listening to country music or whatever, I don't mind. We are!"

Alzack glared at the dark-skinned teen behind his back. "Yeah, I'll definitely make sure to listen to my _better_ music," he grumbled. _I swear, Loke, I am going to kill you after this._

"Sorry to interrupt," a voice said.

The dark-haired cowboy mentally thanked whoever this was for saving him from inevitable doom.

"Would you two care to take part in a social experiment?"

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"Hmm…" Aquarius said, tapping her chin as she studied the petite girl that stood in front of her. _This is entirely wrong. Black doesn't flatter her as much as I thought it would. Her hair is simply a shade too pale of blonde._ "Mavis, go take that off immediately," the light blue-haired teen instructed the short girl. "Try that pink and white dress – you know, the one with the ribbons – and pair it with those slightly off-white kitten heels."

Mavis nodded eagerly before skipping back into her dressing room. "Yes ma'am!"

Aquarius rolled her eyes at the young girl's immaturity, though a small smile was dancing on her lips. Her attention turn to pretty pinkette in front of her that was still awaiting orders. "As for you, Aries…" She looked the girl up and down. _That white dress looks really good on her, and the white knee high boots really compliment it, but with her pale skin, I feel like it's too much of a lack of coloration…_ She snapped her fingers as inspiration struck. "Aries, go add some pink stockings under that dress and put that pink jacket on over it. It'll be _perfect_."

The timid pink-haired girl simply nodded as she walked back into her dressing room, slipping off the white jacket as she went.

A moment later, both girls emerged in their new outfits.

"I'm sorry, Aquarius-san," Aries said shyly, looking at the ground, "but how do I look?"

Aquarius smirked. "Great, of course. I picked your outfit, so it has to be. Not to mention you're a natural looker, my dear. All I had to do was work with that."

The pinkette turned a brilliant shade of red at the praise. "Th-Thank you Aquarius-san!" Under her breath, she whispered, "I'm sorry."

"What about me, Aquarius?" Mavis said, twirling around. "How do I look? I think it's better than the black, though the black _was_ definitely a look I liked."

The cerulean-haired girl scowled. "I think I'll regret letting Lucy talk me into me into letting you tag along with us if you won't listen to me and PUT ON SOME SHOES ALREADY!"

Any sane person would have cowered in fear at the sight of Aquarius' rage, but the short blonde girl simply giggled. "Why? I like going barefoot. It just gives you such a sense of freedom!"

"I don't give a d*** about freedom," Aquarius retorted. "You're here with us, and _I'm_ the boss, so go put on some shoes!"

Mavis pouted. "Aww! Aquarius, that's not fair!"

"Tch. Life's not fair."

"I'm sorry to interrupt you, Aquarius-san," Aries said timidly, "but maybe you should allow Mavis to go barefoot just this once?" She flinched, as if she was expecting to be hit.

Aquarius simply sighed. "Fine," she said, relenting.

Mavis cheered. "Yay!"

" _But_ ," the light blue-haired woman said, holding up a hand, "you have to swear that the next time you come shopping with me, you'll wear whatever d*** shoes I give you!"

The long-haired blonde beamed. "Okay! I promise." She twirled around again, then frowned. "You didn't answer my question before," she said childishly. "How does the dress look on me?"

Aquarius sighed but was unable to stop a smile from creeping onto her face. "It looks fine, Mavis."

"Fine?" Mavis pouted. "I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm than that!"

Aries giggled as Aquarius went off of another one of her rants. Despite this, the ever-cheerful Mavis simply stood there smiling. _Though she almost seems bored,_ the pinkette added as an afterthought.

"Excuse me," a person said as they approached the trio, drawing all three of the girls' attention, "but would you three be interested in taking part in a social experiment?"

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Jellal stared at the back of the three men walking in front of him, wondering for the umpteenth time how Levy had convinced him that hanging out with new people would be a good experience. Instead, he felt even less inclined to associate with people at all. Unless he had his mask on, that was. But masks were frowned upon in public. He cringed at a sudden remembrance of being arrested under essentially the crime of looking suspicious. No, that had not one of his best days. Since then he hadn't worn his mask, instead choosing to simply keep his head down and avoid eye contact.

"Why is emo kid with us again?" Sting muttered to the blonde man with a lightning-shaped scar over his right eye while discreetly gesturing to the blue-haired boy behind them.

"Levy," Laxus grunted in reply.

The white-blonde frowned. "What do you mean, 'Levy'? Did she pull a gun on you or something?"

"She asked us to bring him."

"But why did you agree?" he complained. "He's so depressing. He's gonna scare off all the hot guys!"

Laxus merely ignored the overly-exuberant boy beside him.

"Just pretend he isn't here," Bixlow said, shrugging. "And go ahead and pretend Laxus isn't here, either, since he's already a man of so few words."

Sting snickered. "I can try, but Laxus is f***ing hot, you know."

"And straight."

He shrugged. "A guy can dream, can't he?"

"Yeah, and I'm afraid that's all you'll ever do." The purple-haired man smirked. "But I'm sure you'll find someone. It'll probably be someone you don't expect, too."

Sting groaned. "I know where this is going…"

Bixlow laughed. "You know, maybe someone like… Jellal?"

The white-blonde proceeded to sock him in the gut. "Like h***!"

Bixlow grimaced slightly but still laughed. _D***, that's gonna bruise._ "You never know, Sting."

From behind them, Jellal heard every word. He sighed quietly to himself. "Even if I _was_ gay, I wouldn't be attracted to such a jerk."

Laxus was the only one who heard this, but he smirked. _Good for him._ They'd get along pretty well, if one of them would stop acting so secluded.

"Anyways," Bixlow said, cracking his knuckles, "Levy basically threatened Laxus with some _really_ good blackmail until he agreed. It was hilarious."

"And what _was_ this blackmail?" Sting asked, grinning evilly.

Laxus shot his purple-haired friend one of his signature glares.

Bixlow got the message and pretended to seal his lips. "I'm afraid I'd die if I told you."

Sting sighed melodramatically. "Fine, fine. Whatever."

Jellal felt someone push him forward from behind. He stumbled, bumping into Laxus' back.

Laxus stared icily at the blue-haired boy. "What do you – who are you?"

The other three men turned around to see a person _not_ of their little group.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything terribly important," they said, "but would you gentlemen care to be a part of a social experiment?"

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 _"We asked 30 strangers to kiss for the first time. The purpose of this was to determine the difference of first and last impressions a person had of another. All they had to do was talk with the other person, look them in the eyes, and then kiss them."_

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 **And that is the end of the prologue. I'm not sure when the first couple will be uploaded, or even what the first couple is going to be. Don't forget about what I said at the beginning of the chapter. If you did forget, go back and reread it. Or concentrate really hard until you** ** _do_** **remember, but I think scrolling back up to the top of the page is a lot faster. I hope you're interested enough in this story to return for the next chapter. If so, I will see you then!**


	2. Happy x Charle

**Hello my friends! Welcome back to "First Kiss". I hope you all enjoyed the previous chapter (aka the prologue) and are excited to read this one. Thanks to everyone who followed and favorited, and extra special thanks to JacJac-Arie for reviewing. :)**

 **I used a random selector that I found online to choose the first couple. Without further ado, I give you Happy x Charle. (I apologize in advance for this being mostly in Charle's POV. That's what my muse instructed, so that's what I did.)**

 **Disclaimer:** Alas, Fairy Tail is not mine. I own nothing but the plot. And I don't even entirely own that.

Happy x Charle

Happy couldn't help but gape at the cute white-haired girl that stood in front of him. This was partially because she was cute, but the main reason was… "No way!" he exclaimed. "You like to wear cat ears, too?" He gestured to the silver ears resting on her head. _I get to kiss a girl who likes cats as much as me! This is awesome!_

Charle blushed slightly at his sudden proclamation, but instead of admitting to her embarrassment, she chose to scowl at the blue-haired boy. Who did he think he was?! "You shouldn't jump to conclusions like that, you know. Some people are not as kind as I am. They might lash out at you for such a thing."

He frowned. _Didn't she just lash out at me?_ "Why? It's a compliment."

She rolled her eyes. Just how dense was he? _Dense as all men, I suppose._ "Because not everyone would think it to _be_ a compliment, of course."

"Oh," he said, nodding. "I understand."

She sniffed, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Also, just so you know, I do not necessarily _like_ cat ears. I have no preference towards them at all, actually. They are simply a fashion trend that I am choosing to follow. I could just as easily be wearing ribbons in my hair." _Though I hate ribbons. They get tangled up and are painful to remove. They don't belong in hair at all._

The blue-haired boy made an odd expression, scrunching up his nose as if he'd smelled something funny. "Ew! Ribbons are so weird. They belong on presents. And fish. But not a person's head."

She made a 'hmph' noise before turning away from him, refusing to acknowledge that he had just voiced her opinion perfectly – with the exception of his irrational fish theory. _He's as dense as they come._

Happy sweatdropped as the pretty girl turned away from him. _Oh no! She's looking away! I did something wrong, I just know it! Maybe she really likes ribbons?_ "W-Wait!" he sputtered without thinking. "P-Please don't ignore me! That would make things really really awkward when we have to kiss!"

Charle felt her face redden. _He's bringing that up?! It hasn't even been but two minutes._ To hide her nervousness at his sudden declaration, she simply sighed.

Happy cringed upon hearing the exasperation laced within it. _Now she hates me. What am I supposed to do now? Natsu would know if he were here!_

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 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Natsu! Natsu!" Happy exclaimed, well, happily. "Guess what?!"_

 _His pink-haired friend grinned at him. "What? I can already tell it's something awesome!"_

 _"I met a really cute girl today!"_

 _Natsu yawned. "Oh, is that all?"_

 _"Natsuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! Don't be mean!"_

 _"What? How's that mean?"_

 _Happy pouted at his best friend. "Because girls are important."_

 _"Nah."_

 _"I'm gonna tell Erza!"_

 _Natsu blanched, sweatdropping. "No! Anyone but Erza!"_

 ***Flashback ends***

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Happy reconsidered his previous statement. _Actually, Natsu wouldn't know at all. Never mind._ He mentally slapped himself. _Gah! Happy! Stop talking to yourself and apologize to her!_ "I – I don't know what exactly I did, but I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you somehow!"

Charle's blush deepened at the honesty in his voice. _I don't understand him. How does he just assume he's the one who should take the blame? Any other man would try to say I was being selfish and anti-social._ She sighed again, but this time exhaustion was evident in it. "Look, tomcat," she said, turning around to face him, "you didn't do anything wrong. Okay? So don't bother yourself over it."

He blinked in surprise at her statement. _Wait, so it_ wasn't _me?_ "Well, if I didn't do anything, who's got you so down? And why 'tomcat'?"

She rolled her eyes. _Give men an inch, and they take a mile. Or try to, anyways._ She pointed at the cat ears resting on his head as if that explained everything.

His jaw dropped. "My _ears_ did something?!"

Charle resisted the urge to shout in frustration. She took a deep breath to calm herself. _There is no reason for you to lose your temper right now,_ she told herself, _as much of an idiot he may be._ "No," she said tightly. "I was trying to explain that I called you 'tomcat' because of your cat ears, and the fact that you're a boy."

Happy nodded, a look on his face that said, _I am incredibly wise._

Charle wasn't sure how that expression related to the topic at hand.

"Anyways," he said, suddenly beaming again, "you didn't answer my first question: who's making you act so down?"

"None of your business," she snapped, turning away from again.

Happy panicked. _Nooooooooooooooo! She's mad again! This is time it was definitely my fault!_ "I did something this time, didn't?! I know I did! I'm sorry! I'll do anything – I'll-I'll even give you my fish if that's what you want!"

Despite her frustration, Charle couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from turning up slightly at his comment. _Honestly, what is with him and fish?_ But she couldn't let him see that. She coughed, allowing a frown to fall over her pretty features once again. "Why would I want a fish, may I ask?"

He gave her a toothy grin. "Because fish are cool, of course."

She still had no idea where his logic came from. "You're ridiculous," she grumbled. And then she remembered her vision from earlier.

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 ***Flashback begins***

 _"But I have a question for you girls: how would you like to take part in a social experiment?"_

 _Bisca frowned at the stranger's question. "I'm afraid that –"_

 _Evergreen put her hand over the green-haired cowgirl's mouth, silencing her. "What_ type _of social experiment?" she said sweetly._

 _The person chuckled. "I'm afraid the details can't be explained unless you decide to do it, but I can summarize it for you, if you'd like."_

 _"Please do."_

 _"We're going to be testing the differences between the first and last impressions two people have on another."_

 _"Hmm…" Evergreen tapped her lips with a fan that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "What do you think, Charle?"_

 _The white-haired girl wasn't listening. She was staring off into a space, wearing a slightly horrified expression._

 _"What's wrong with her?!"_

 _Bisca shoved the brunette's hand off of her face. "This is why you should have been listening when Gajeel threatened – I mean_ explained _– this to us. You'd know why she does that."_

 _Evergreen pouted. "Well, I didn't listen. So can you explain it to me now?"_

 _Bisca sighed in exasperation. "Fine. Basically, Charle's clairvoyant. If she's spacing out like this, she's having one of her visions."_

 _"Huh. Do you think she could tell me who I'm marrying?"_

 _The green-haired girl had had it. "My God, Ever! I don't know! If you say another word I swear I will slap you so hard your glasses will break."_

 _"You'd better not. These are designer."_

 _Bisca was about to retort when Charle spoke._

 _"We need to do the experiment."_

 _"Why?" Evergreen asked curiously. "What did you see?"_

 _Charle winced, as if trying to remember was painful. "To be honest, I'm not entirely certain_ what _I saw. But there was a lot of blue, and I could hear myself saying that someone was an idiot."_

 _Bisca smirked. "Sure you weren't talking about Ever over here?"_

 _Evergreen opened her mouth to protest, but Charle spoke again._

 _"I did consider that – no offense, Evergreen – but she's not wearing any blue. We have to do the experiment."_

 _The person grinned. "That's lovely, ladies. Follow me and I'll take you."_

 ***Flashback ends***

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Charle cringed at the memory of the prediction and the conversation that followed. "I foresaw that this experiment wouldn't be fun," she muttered, "but I wanted to do it anyway. What is wrong with me?"

Happy frowned. "There's nothing wrong with you! I might have only just met you, but I can tell that you're a really good person."

She blushed. "Than–"

His eyes widened. "Wait!" he exclaimed, interrupting her.

She glowered angrily at him – or glowered as much as she could, seeing as she was still facing away from him. _He has no sense of timing._

"Did you say that you _foresaw_ this?"

"Yes, and your point is?"

Happy beamed. "Whoa! You're psychic!" He watched as the white-haired girl rolled her eyes at his remark.

"No," she said crossly, "I am _not_ psychic. I despise it when people make that mistake."

He desperately shook his head. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't know!"

"Yes, that was made quite clear to me."

"Well," he said shrugging his shoulders, "if you aren't psychic, what are you? I don't know, so educate me on this."

Charle sighed but turned around to face him, though she didn't look into his eyes. "'Psychic' is when a person has the supposed ability to read minds," she explained. " _I_ am clairvoyant."

"Clam voyage what?"

"I said _clairvoyant._ "

"Clairvoyant?"

"Yes," she said, nodding. "It means I have the theoretical ability to see into the future. My predications are not always exact, of course. The events I foresee do not always come to pass. But I am rather proud to say that I have a 76% accuracy rate, which is quite good when it comes to clairvoyance."

Happy was certain that his dark-colored eyes had to have been positively _gleaming_ with pure joy and excitement. "That's so amazing! Can you predict something for me?!"

She gave him an icy stare. "You must be joking."

"Nope! I'd love know to when the next time I get to eat fish is! Particularly salmon. I haven't had salmon in a while."

Charle resisted the urge to slap the blue-haired boy. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I cannot just predict something for you. My clairvoyance is not something I can control. It simply comes and goes, and occasionally at the worst of times. It is not a blessing, like many people say. It is merely a gift that I can't give back."

He nodded quickly. "I see, I see. That makes sense."

She chose not to comment, even though she doubted the truth behind his statement.

Happy awkwardly fixed his cat ears. "Well… Do you want to tell me now?"

The white-haired girl frowned. "What are you –?"

"I mean, you know, you still haven't told me who it was that upset you so much," he hastily added. "You said it wasn't me, but you haven't told me who it _was_ , and I want to know because I like you and want you to talk to me, plus studies show that talking to someone can –"

"Enough, tomcat," she snapped, holding up a hand to silence him. "I don't care about what research does or does not say, and how I feel about you does not have any relation to the fact that it is _my_ personal business and I am not obligated in the slightest to tell it to _anyone_!" Charle hadn't noticed that was getting louder with each word until she saw the look of fear on the boy's face. She immediately turned away, horrified with herself. "I-I'm so sorry! I can't believe I just – I didn't mean to lose control of my temper like that. It won't –"

"Wait," Happy said, interrupting her. "Can you say that again?"

"– happen again, I assure you." She stopped, seeming to realize he'd spoken. "Wait, what?"

He laughed at her surprised expression. Then he became serious again. "Can you repeat that?"

"Pardon me? Repeat what, exactly?"

"Just apologize again. I'm trying to figure something out."

She blinked in surprise at this, obviously unsure of what to do. "Why?"

"Trust me."

Charle blushed at this proclamation.

 _Trust me._

If anyone else had told her that with just minutes of meeting her, she probably would have slapped them. But him… She laughed silently at herself. This blue-haired boy was knocking down her walls as if they weren't even there. "Fine. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose control of my temper like that." She paused before adding, "Is that all?"

Happy nodded, beaming at the white-haired girl in front of him. "That was perfect!"

"O-Okay… That's good, then. Why did I have to repeat myself?"

"Because now I know something about you." He looked around to see if anyone was listening in on their conversation before leaning in towards her. "You're from Edolas, aren't you?"

Charle felt the color drain from her face. "I'm – what do you think you're going on about?!" she demanded. "I've lived in Fiore my whole life!"

He held up a hand to stop her. "No use denying it. I can hear the accent in your voice, clear as day, especially now that I'm listening for it."

"I don't know _what_ –!"

"But don't worry," he said, winking at her. "I'm from Edolas, too!"

Her jaw dropped. Here he was, a complete _stranger,_ admitting to her that he was from Edolas – considered by many to be the worst country in the world. It had a cruel dictatorship, where only a select few were treated well. Everyone else that was unfortunate enough to live there was hunted by the military and-slash-or living in utter destitution. Yet this blue-haired boy was telling her _flat out_ that he was from there. "Y-You are?" She then cursed herself internally. If that had been a trap so he'd have an excuse to make fun of her, she'd walked right into it.

But instead of laughing at her and calling her a loser, he simply nodded eagerly. "Yup! But I didn't live there for long before my parents sent me over the border. I think it was only three years." He shuddered. "Three years I know I'll never forget."

"I was… Sent here when I was young, as well…" Charle said slowly, staring at him in shock.

His eyes met hers. "You won't ever forget it, either, will you?"

She shook her head, trying to swallow the lump forming in her throat. "No. I won't. Not ever."

Happy suddenly grinned. "So now we're alike in another way! First we both like to wear cat ears, and now we're both from Edolas."

"Yes…" she said, eyeing him suspiciously. "What's your point?"

"We're connected!"

"You could say that…" _What is he trying accomplish with this?_

He got a mischievous glint in his dark-colored eyes. "So… Now you can _definitely_ tell me what's got you so unhappy, right?" He grinned at her.

Charle blinked. Had he just… Caught her in a verbal trap? No one – man or woman – had ever bested her in a battle of words before. She shook her head. "D*** him..." she muttered under her breath before sighing. Then she spoke to him. "Fine. If you insist."

Happy pumped his fist, cheering. "Yeah!"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't see why you're so interested in my affairs, you know. It's not as if this affects you in any way."

Immediately, the happy expression dropped from his face. He started into the white-haired girl's eyes, dead serious. "Someone made you sad. I don't like seeing you sad."

She felt her cheeks heat up from embarrassment, though she was secretly a bit flattered by his statement. "Tha-That's quite kind of you."

The serious expression on his face vanished and was replaced once again by yet another of his goofy grins. "Now tell me everything!"

She gave him a small smile. "Fine."

Happy's grin grew by a hundredfold. _Yes! She smiled at me!_

"It's not a terribly complicated situation," she continued, "but just ask me if you don't understand something."

He nodded.

"Okay." She blew her bangs out of her face before continuing. "Basically, for all of today, I am not allowed to go anywhere near my closest friend. I understand the situation, so I understand why they don't want me near her for today, but…" She sighed. "Ever since I met her, we haven't been apart for an _entire_ day. Maybe I'm being silly, but I can't help it. I care about her. Sometimes I feel like her mother." She laughed quietly. "So that's that."

His continued to smile at her.

She frowned. "I appreciate your sympathy," she said sarcastically before rolling her eyes. "You see, this is why I wasn't interested in telling you."

He shrugged. "But you did." He winked at her. "Besides, it looks like we're in the same boat!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I'm not allowed to hang out with _my_ best friend for all of today, either!"

"Why?" she said inquiringly.

He shrugged. "I'm not totally sure. He said something about wanting things to be perfect for Wendy, and that I'd distract him or whatever." He pouted. "I'm not distracting, am I?"

Charle froze. _No way._ It was impossible. "Did you just say Wendy? As in, Wendy Marvell?" she demanded, ignoring his query.

The blue-haired boy nodded, paying no attention to her angry tone. "Yup! She's Natsu's cousin. I've only met her a few times, though."

This was becoming too much for her too comprehend.

"Why?" he asked her curiously. "Do you know Wendy?"

She almost laughed out loud. " _Do I know her?!_ Of course! Wendy and I have known each other practically since birth, and we've been best friends for as long as I can remember! We lived in a foster home together for years until her cousins Natsu and Gajeel took her in. We're in separate homes now, but we visit each other every day, though she usually comes to my house because I'm still technically in a foster home."

Happy's jaw dropped. "Natsu Dragneel?!"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, unless you know another."

He grinned wildly. "Natsu is _my_ best friend! He helped take care of me after my parents sent me here from Edolas, and we've been friends ever since!" He stopped smiling and looked the white-haired girl up and down. "Hmm… If you're Wendy's best friend… Then you must be Charle, right?!" He was beaming at her again.

She sighed but nodded. "And if you're Natsu's best friend… Then you're either Gray Fullbuster or Happy."

Happy scowled at her. "Hey! Gray is _not_ Natsu's best friend! I am!"

"So you're Happy, then."

"Yes! That's my name, too."

"That's what I was talking about."

"Oh." His cheesy smile reappeared on his face. "Okay then!" Then he smirked. "Hey, Charle…"

"What?" she groaned. She was still trying to process that Wendy was friends with this idiot, and therefore she'd probably have to talk to him more in the future. She'd wanted to kiss him once and never see him again. Or, even better, not kiss him at all. _Nothing personal, Happy._

"You realize we're connected in yet _another_ way?!"

 _Realized but refused to admit,_ she thought, smiling to herself. "Yes, it seems we are related in every way possible – friends, land of birth, accessories – excepting our personalities. And interests," she added, thinking of his obsession with fish. "What's your point? I'm not spilling any of my secrets to you, if that's what you want."

Happy rolled his eyes. "Don't be silly. We're connected, but we _did_ just meet."

 _If only he had realized that a minute ago,_ she thought wistfully.

"However…" he said, grinning. "Since we're so connected, then it must be true."

"What must be true?"

"Our love is fated to be!"

"What?!" she shrieked, going red in the face again. "What are you talking about, 'our lo – mph'!"

She was cut off by the blue-haired boy pressing his lips against hers, gently cupping her face in his hands. She must have stood there for a minute, not understanding what was going on before she let herself fall into the kiss, grabbing his shirt in her palms as she kissed him back. It was the most blissful thing she'd ever experienced, his lips against hers.

 _And to think,_ she mused quietly to herself as she pulled away from him, blushing, _in just these twenty minutes, a person I'd never met got me to kiss them willingly._ She giggled to herself. _Somewhat._

He gave her an embarrassed grin, scratching the back of his head nervously. "Eh heh… Sorry?"

She shook her head. _Just an hour ago… I'd have claimed it to be impossible._ "Don't be." _That no one would ever get under my skin again._

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"Charle!" a cheerful voice said as they walked into a white-walled bedroom. "I'm here!"_

 _Charle looked up from the book she was reading. "Oh, hi Wendy. I'd forgotten you were coming over today."_

 _Wendy giggled. "You're not normally so forgetful, Charle. Did something happen today?" She winked playfully at her white-haired friend. "A boy, perhaps?"_

 _She folded the page in her book before closing it and setting it down on the bed beside her. "Yes, but not in the way you think."_

 _The bluenette immediately sat next to her friend and held her hand. "What happened?"_

 _Charle sighed. "A girl was crying because she'd failed a test. I told her to toughen up and stop acting like a baby. She'd just have to make sure she did better on the next one. A boy told me I wasn't helping the situation. I said she didn't need comfort because it was her own fault. He called me heartless. I left after that."_

 _Wendy frowned. "Hmm… That's a tough scenario, isn't it?"_

 _"Not really. She was being too sensitive. A person can't let stuff as silly as that get to them."_

 _"I suppose, but you_ were _being a bit harsh, Charle."_

 _"There's a difference between harsh and the truth, Wendy." She stared coldly at her friend. "I learned that you can't let anything get under your skin, because it'll only hurt you and the people around you in the end. You should always face the truth."_

 _Wendy gave her friend a small smile. "One day, Charle, I think you'll meet someone who's going to completely change how you feel about that."_

 _Charle snorted softly. "I'll make sure to foresee that so I can avoid them for the rest of my life."_

 _Wendy giggled. "You're so silly, Charle!"_

 ***Flashback ends***

xxxxxxxxx

 _But now…_ She smiled. _Wendy was right. Maybe it was high time I let someone else understand me and 'get under my skin'._

Happy blushed as the pretty girl smiled at him. "So… Are you my girlfriend now?"

Her smile vanished. "Certainly not!"

"But –"

She held up a hand to silence him. "We kissed, yes. But it can't be denied that I just met you today. So I want you to pick me up from 3145 East Laurel St. at six o' clock, got it? You can decide where we'll go after that."

"Pick you up? What do you – oh." His cheeks reddened even more. Then he smirked. "Wherever I want?"

She sighed. "I am sure I'll regret this, but yes. Wherever you want."

He beamed. "Yay! I know a great sushi place!"

 _I should have known he'd want to get fish,_ she thought, shaking her head. "That's fine with me."

"Why wait till six?!" he exclaimed. "Let's go now!" He grabbed her wrist and started to drag the white-haired girl out of the room.

She turned an adorable shade of pink, but allowed herself to be pulled along. And, suddenly, in her mind's eye, she saw an older version of herself dressed in all white, kissing a man with… Blue hair. Her cheeks proceeded to turn a flaming red. But she smiled. _Well… We'll see._

xxxxxxxxx

 **You know, I like this one a lot. I wasn't exactly sure what to do with it at first, but sometimes you just have to put that pencil on paper and everything will just come to you. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did. I'm not sure when the next update is going to be, because I do need to update my other fics, too, but I'll try to update before the end of the month. Please leave what you thought in a review, as well as what couple you want to see next. No promises on me uploading the couple you want next, though. I might not have it written yet. XD Hopefully I'll see you all at the next update!**

 **Fun Fact #1.** I toyed with the idea of having them be illegal immigrants from Edolas, but that's a separate fanfic in itself.


	3. Lories

**WARNING:** Mentions of rape and molestation. Very brief, but if you're extremely sensitive about such topics, please don't read.

 **Hello, my lovely audience. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. You guys are the reason I write – and my overactive imagination.**

 **Do you have a vague memory of me saying that I'd try to update before the end of the month [August]?**

 **I lied, apparently.**

 **My bad.**

 **But here's the newest chapter of First Kiss, albeit late. The pairing this chapter is Lories. Enjoy!**

 **And I apologize for OOCness. I'm only human.**

 **Disclaimer:** I have no ownership over Fairy Tail.

Lories

Loke had always split up girls into three categories based on their looks – cute, pretty, and sexy. He examined the girl that stood a few feet away from him. _She's definitely in the cute type,_ he decided.

Cute were the ones who had a tendency to wear _more_ – rather than less – clothes, but it only added to their natural beauty. They generally had younger looking faces, and big, innocent eyes.

Pretty were the ones who maybe tried to accentuate their looks, usually with makeup. They wouldn't cover up _every_ inch of their body, but they had a sense of modesty and usually acted upon it. Most girls he met were pretty.

And finally there were _sexy_ girls. No, he wasn't the biggest fan of girls who dressed 'sexy', but it was all in a matter of _how_ they did it. When sexy overlapped with _slutty,_ he was the first to turn away and say, "No thank you." But if they dressed sexy because they were _proud_ of their body, he wasn't one to stop them.

He was a supporter of feminism, after all. Even if he was dubbed as a womanizer.

And so the pink-haired girl in front of him was cute. The pink hair was an immediate clue, as well as the fact that the only skin that could be seen was that of her face and a bit of her neck and collarbone, but what really cinched it were her large, maroon-violet eyes. He'd never seen eyes of that color before, and it fascinated him. Her eyes had to be her best feature.

Though she had a great figure as well, with curves in all the right places.

Aries fidgeted underneath the orange-haired boy's piercing gaze. No one had ever stared at her for an extended amount of time, and it was making her uncomfortable.

That fact was only increased by a hundredfold because it was a _boy._

The pinkette had had bad experiences with men. She didn't talk about it with anyone, unless pressured to do so. There were few times when she voluntarily revealed anything. It wasn't anything she wanted to remember, much less _talk_ about. It had mentally and emotionally scarred her, and few people could say they understood how she felt.

She shuddered slightly at the memory, but the boy appeared to not have noticed, still continuing to just stare at her. Finally, he smirked and pushed his rectangular wire-framed glasses up his nose. The movement startled her, making her jump.

"I'm sorry!" she blurted out. "I'd prefer if you stop staring at me!"

Loke blinked in surprise. He hadn't realized how long he'd been staring. He nervously scratched the back of his head. "My bad." _Cute girls are usually shy,_ he reminded himself. _Work with that, Loke._ He couldn't be as forthcoming with her as he was with other girls. "I'm Loke," he said, casually tossing his hair. "And you are?"

Aries blushed a pretty shade of pink at his words, unaccustomed to such treatment. "I-I'm Aries." She bit her lip anxiously, fiddling with the edges of her hair and not meeting his eyes. _What next…? Oh!_ "I'm sorry, but it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Loke smirked slightly at how flustered she was. It only added to her cute factor. Not to mention her adorable verbal quirk of apologizing all the time. Some could find it annoying, but he found it rather endearing. "It's a pleasure to meet you, as well." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "I'm sure you've heard this a thousand times, but you're quite charming. And certainly gorgeous."

Aries felt the color drain from her face.

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _"I'm sorry, boys. I'm busy today."_

 _"Really? You're always busy, Karen."_

 _"I know, I know. I'm sorry."_

 _"What are we supposed to do now?"_

 _"Well…_ I'm _busy, but Aries isn't." Aries squeaked as she was shoved forward by the cruel blonde. "I'm sure she'll do, right?"_

 _The group of boys chuckled. "I guess she'll be fine. She's a looker, in more ways than one."_

 _"Have fun with her."_

 _Aries shook her head as she was slowly surrounded by the men. "N-No… Please…"_

 ***Flashback ends***

xxxxxxxxx

"I-I'm sorry!" she said desperately. "But please don't talk to me in such a way! I-I don't like it, and I'm sorry!"

Loke blinked in surprise, a small frown of puzzlement resting on his lips. This girl was… Odd. He'd never met a girl quite like her before. He'd have to be careful not to grow too fond of her. The frown morphed into a small smile. "You don't need to apologize. I shouldn't have been so bold. However, I'm not taking those words back. You shouldn't feel ashamed of being beautiful. Many girls must be envious of you."

"P-Please. Do not compliment me. I-I, I'm so sorry!" Aries buried her face in her hands, embarrassed and completely humiliated at her cowardice.

"Hey…" he said gently, taking a step towards her and reaching to put his hand on her arm. "I didn't mean to offend you –"

She shoved the orange-haired boy away, having started to panic as he moved closer. _When a man gets close to you, it's never a good thing…_ Upon seeing the look of shock and something akin to disgust etched on his face, she turned away from him. She couldn't look at him. _I'm such an idiot!_ She felt something wet trickle down her cheek as she hid her face in her hands.

Loke had _not_ expected her to push him away. He'd just been trying to provide comfort, after all. What the h*** was wrong with her?! Honestly. "Oi," he said angrily. "Why are you acting so –" He stopped. _Is she… Crying?_ His face paled. Had _he_ made her cry? "Hey…" he said softly, gently taking one of her hands off her face and holding it between his. "Are you okay? If I did something, just tell me. I'll stop."

Aries yanked her hand out of his, unprepared for his touch. She backed away from him, almost stumbling and falling. "I-I'm sorry, but I can't!"

"Can't what?"

"I'm sorry!" She shook her head, looking at the floor to avoid his eyes. "I'm truly sorry!"

"What's wrong?" he asked her kindly. "Don't bottle it up."

"Nothing is wrong… I'm fine…"

"You aren't fine."

"I-I'm sorry, but I am!"

"You're _crying,_ d*** it!"

Aries' hand flew to her face, and sure enough, her cheeks were wet with tears. "Yes…"

"And so I am _not_ going to leave you alone until you tell me what's wrong." Loke sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I know I'm probably being _way_ too forward, since I've known you for all of maybe three minutes now?" He noticed a small, half-hearted smile appear on her lips for a brief second. "But I'll be d***ed if I don't help you." After all, he'd sworn to never ignore a girl's feelings again.

xxxxxxxxx

 ***Flashback begins***

 _Loke frowned up reading the caller idea on his phone before he answered it. "Mr. Bob? Is something wrong?"_

 _"Oh, Loke…" There was the sound of sobbing from the other end of the line. "I'm sorry for calling after three months… I know Blue Pegasus doesn't matter to you anymore. But… It's Karen!"_

 _His grip tightened on the phone. "What are you talking about? Did something happen?" He hadn't talked with his ex-girlfriend at all since they had split. "Why are you crying?"_

 _"Karen has – Karen has –" There was a choked cry. "Karen has killed herself!"_

 _He suddenly felt the urge to throw up. "She… What?"_

 _"Th-This morning… I found her… On the floor, and a g-gun in her hand… Blood… There was so much blood!" By then the man was in hysterics._

 _Loke couldn't speak. He couldn't breathe._

 _Suicide._

 _She had committed suicide._

 _And it was all his fault._

 ***Flashback ends***

xxxxxxxxx

Aries slowly turned around to face the orange-haired boy, though her maroon-violet eyes were still cast to the ground. "I'm sorry." Her voice was hushed. "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" he said lightly. "You haven't done anything wrong."

Her eyes widened in shock. _You haven't done anything wrong._

That did it.

She grabbed his shirt, pulling him towards her, crying her eyes out into his chest. Part of her was mortified that she was sobbing all over a complete stranger, and yet part of her was at ease. Or rather, she felt she could trust him.

 _To trust a man…_

The pinkette had never thought she'd feel that way again. Not after _that_.

Loke froze as the girl flung herself at him and stained his shirt with her tears. "I'm sorry," he heard her say, the words slightly muffled by his shirt. "I'm so sorry…" He slowly wrapped his arms around the girl, pulling her closer to him.

Neither knew how long they stayed like that.

It didn't matter.

Loke smiled softly. She was like a little lamb. Innocent. Vulnerable. And he was going to protect her.

 _Why?_

He wasn't sure. He had no idea what made him care so much about this girl. He didn't have a clue as why she seemed so _different_ from the other girls. But what he _did_ know was that as long as he was there, this girl was _not_ going to cry like this again.

He hadn't thought he'd ever want to be in a steady relationship with a girl again. Not after _that._

Finally, her sobs ceased, turning into quiet sniffles.

Aries slowly pulled away from the handsome boy that had been holding her so gently. She used the sleeve of the jacket Aquarius had gotten for her to wipe away her tears. She knew that she had to look positively _awful_ , but for once, she didn't care.

Part of her wanted to run away. To escape from another man that could hurt her.

But the rest of her wanted to stay in the warm, strong, and secure arms of the boy who – despite of the flirtatious and seemingly obnoxious impression he had given off at first – cared so much for a stranger.

He reminded her of a lion – always protecting others and fighting for them. Or that was the impression she had gotten. "I'm sorry," she whispered, chagrined at how she had cried all over him. He surely thought she was a coward now. _But it's better to be thought a coward than a slut,_ she told herself.

He smiled at her, giving her a feeling of warmth inside. "Don't be. I get the feeling you've been holding that in for a _long_ time."

That was true. She hadn't cried in such a way in years. "I suppose so," she murmured, "but I'm still sorry. I've gotten your suit all wet, and…" She sniffed. "And I'm sure you don't want to even talk to me now."

Loke shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not true." He smirked. "If anything, I'm more fascinated by you than I was before."

The pinkette wasn't able to stop herself from giggling. "Thank you, I think." She cringed at the way her voice cracked. "I'm sorry if it wasn't a compliment!"

He winked at her. "Don't worry. It was."

She nodded, relieved.

"So, we still have to kiss and all," he continued, "but I think we just need to get to know each other first. Have a regular conversation. Ask each other a few questions. How does that sound?"

Aries let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. _A genuine conversation._ She could do that. "Okay!"

"We can ask each other a few questions, but first we can simply introduce ourselves. But just the basics. My name is Loke, I'm 20 years old, and…" He hesitated, unsure of what else to say without going extremely in-depth about himself. "Er… My zodiac sign is Leo?"

The pale-skinned girl giggled at the sheer randomness of his final statement, before realizing how rude that could be seen as. "I'm sorry for laughing," she said somewhat desperately, covering her mouth with her hands. "I meant no offense!"

"Nah," he said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "It was a pretty random thing, wasn't it?"

She gave him a soft smile. "Not at all." She paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I'm sorry if this is odd, but my name is Aries, I'm 18 years old, and my zodiac sign is Aries!"

"Hmm…" he said teasingly. "I wonder if that could be connected somehow…"

She tucked a strand of pink hair behind her ear. "I was told I had not been given a name when I arrived, so they simply called me Aries. I'm sorry if this ends up being incorrect, but I believe there were people there also called their zodiac signs in a similar fashion of what mine is."

Loke raised an eyebrow at her statement, unsure of what she was implying by "when I arrived". "'Arrived'?" he asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

"Oh," she said, flushing. "I was sent to an orphanage and lived there until midway through my eleventh grade year." She winced. "I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to know!"

He shook his head. "No, that's exactly what I wanted to know." He smiled at her. "I was also at an orphanage for most of my life. Blue Pegasus, to be precise. And then I was moved to Fairy Tail for several years."

Aries froze. _Blue Pegasus…?_ "How long were you at Blue Pegasus?" she asked slowly, before mentally facepalming at how rude she was being. "I'm sorry if that's too intrusive!"

"Not at all," he said with a lazy grin. "I was only there for a few months before I was sent to Fairy Tail."

"I was Blue Pegasus, too," she said, anxiously tucking a stand of hair behind her ear. "But maybe I left before you arrived, and so we didn't meet? I'm sorry if you don't care!"

"I guess that's the only way," he said with a laugh. "I amazed we didn't meet!" His smile vanished, replaced by something dark and haunting in his hazel eyes. "Stuff happened there. I was happy to leave."

"Agreed," she whispered, not really meaning the words for him to hear, but more for herself. "It was one of the best days of my life to be adopted from that place." Then she gasped. "But I'm not trying to say Blue Pegasus was bad! Master Bob was quite kind, but there was just someone who… Wasn't the most compassionate…" She slapped her hands over her mouth. "Oh, and now I'm sorry for dumping personal details on you! I'm sure you don't care, and probably think it doesn't matter – mph!"

Loke had placed his finger on her lips to silence her. "Hey," he said comfortingly. "You can tell me anything. Don't feel like it's too much or too little." He winked at her. "We'll need to trust each other before we kiss, after all." She nodded, and he moved his finger from her lips. "So feel free to tell me what made that adoption day so happy for you, and who it was that made every day _before_ that so miserable." It was then his turn to get flustered as he realized what he'd said. "O-Only if you want to, of course! I mean, if it's that personal, you don't have to, and I don't want to pressure you, so –"

"I – I don't mind," Aries said, only slightly hesitant. "But I might not… Say _everything_ … I'm sorry if that's not okay!"

He breathed a silent sigh of relief that she hadn't been offended by his statement. "That's fine. Perfectly understandable."

"Okay…" She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I drag on for too long. Please stop me if you have any questions!"

"Deal."

She wrung her hands out of nervousness. "When I was young, I was taken to Blue Pegasus. I was raised there, and I felt like I was in an Earthly Heaven for the longest time." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry if that's insignificant!"

He shook his head. "Nothing is insignificant if it happened to you. Every detail matters."

She nodded. "Okay… Anyways, when I was 10, someone arrived. Another girl my age. We became fast friends…" She unconsciously hugged herself. "But I've always been shy, and it became more of her bossing me around and me not being able to tell her 'no'. When we reached middle and high school – particularly high school, and I'm sorry if that's too detailed! – she became infatuated with the idea of boys and getting a boyfriend. She was dating four and five people at a time, and then ditched them after only a week or two. When we reached tenth grade…" She shuddered, remembering it all. "I'm so sorry…" she whispered, staring at the ground. "This is – this is very difficult to speak of…"

Loke noticed the single tear trickle down her cheek. _F***,_ he thought. He hadn't meant to make her cry. "Hey…" he said, gently unwrapping her arms from around her and taking her hands in his. "If you don't want to talk about it, don't." In an attempt to lighten the mood, he added, "You can always wait to tell me until after a few dates, you know." She didn't laugh, as he'd hoped she would, but she did blush a brilliant crimson.

"N-No," she stuttered, "I do want to tell you…!"

"But it's hard," he finished.

She nodded.

"Well, after you finish I get to tell you my tragic past, so we'll be even then," he said, pushing his glasses up his nose. "That okay?"

She giggled slightly. "Sure."

"Now go ahead. Whenever you're ready."

Aries took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "W-When we reached tenth grade, she started to… _Use_ me. Or rather, whenever she was busy, she'd let all of her boyfriends… She let them 'play' with me…" She held back a sob, instead taking a sharp breath. "I'm sorry...!"

Loke clenched his fist, seething in anger. How dare that b**** do something like that… He'd _kill_ that woman if he ever met her.

"It never got to the… _Extremes_ …" she continued after she'd regained a sense of calm. "Never full on rape… Just molesting… And when Mr. Bob found out, he reported it, and every man that had… _Touched_ me… Was sent to jail. My friend denied any involvement… And I never said anything about her _being_ involved… But things couldn't be the way they were before. A year and a half of being her toy established that. A few days after the trials, I was adopted. I was so thankful to be taken out of that – out of that _h***hole_." She sniffed, wiping her eyes. "I'm sorry about my language."

"Curse all you want," he said tightly, still furious. "You've earned the right to, after going through that."

"And that's that," the pinkette whispered. "I haven't spoken to my friend since."

"Rightly so."

Aries sniffed and wiped at her eyes again.

Loke couldn't stand seeing her like that. So weak. So… _Alone_. He understood how she felt. He understand the sense of loss. The mixture of being free yet still caged by memories.

And he understood _why_ she was apologizing all of the time. It wasn't a quirk. It had been drilled into her.

"Hey," he said gently. "I'm gonna tell you about my life story from when I was in Blue Pegasus, and I'm going to overdramatize it as much as possible to hopefully make you laugh. How's that sound?"

She giggled at his words. He had that effect on her. "Okay."

He cracked his knuckles. "Alright. Here goes." He cleared his throat before beginning his tale. "Once upon a time, there was a young man named Loke. He was quite handsome – still is, as a matter of fact – and he lived at Blue Pegasus for all of maybe five months. After two months, he had fallen in love with a beautiful girl. They got together, and were happy. Happy until said girl started cheating on him. When he found out, he broke up with her. A few days later he moved to Fairy Tail. He hasn't had a real girlfriend ever since." He dramatically ran a hand through his hair. "Truly a tragedy."

Aries hadn't stopped laughing throughout the whole story.

That made him smile.

"Your girlfriend kind of sounds like my old friend," she said after she finished laughing, slightly out of breath. "I'm sorry if that comparison was uncalled for!"

He waved his hand dismissively. "Not at all." He chuckled, but the bitterness in his tone was obvious. "I'd have to agree. One guy was never enough for Karen."

She froze. "K-Karen? Karen Lilica?"

He nodded, surprised. "Yeah. How did you –?" His eyes widened. "That's impossible." He grabbed her shoulders and turned her so they were looking eye to eye. "When did you leave Blue Pegasus?"

"It was February 17th," she replied, trying to ignore her blush caused by how close they were, "in the year X781."

His hands fell to his sides. "I joined Blue Pegasus in March of X781. I left in July." He stared at her. "We almost met. And I _dated_ the b**** that did that to you." He facepalmed. "I feel like such a jacka**."

She gave him a soft – if sad – smile. "I'm sorry if this is too forward, but how could you have known? As you said, we missed each other by a month."

"Still…" He sighed. "You're right. But now I'm always going to wonder, 'What if?'"

"'What if?' what?"

"What if we _had_ met? And I'd still dated Karen? Would I have been a part of the group of men that molested you? Or would I have even known? Would I have even _cared_?"

She bit her lip, thinking. "I'm sorry, but I don't know what would have happened. And yet…" She gently took his hand. "It'll always be a 'what if?", no? It's pointless to dwell on it."

He chuckled, intertwining his fingers with hers. "Yeah."

There was a period where neither of them spoke, both enjoying the simplicity of silence and comfort of being with the other.

Aries broke it first. "I'm sorry if this is wrong to ask, but… Have you spoken with Karen since you broke up?" She looked up at him, her maroon-violet eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and something sentimentally bittersweet. "I would like to talk to her. To let her know that… That I forgive her."

For a moment he didn't speak. This girl amazed him. Out of all the many flings Loke had had, no girl had been _pure._ Not only in the literal sense, but also figuratively. None of them cared about love, or how other people felt, or how their actions affected other people.

For the longest time, he hadn't either.

"Aries…" He sighed. "I don't know how to say this."

Her brow wrinkled in confusion and worry. "What is it?"

"Well… The story I told you. About me."

"What about it?"

"It had a sequel. A part two."

She stared at the ground. "It's not a happy ending, is it?"

"No. It's not. And I wish I didn't have to be the one to tell you." He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself. "Around three weeks after Karen and I broke up, after I left for Fairy Tail, I got a call from Master Bob." He felt the same sinking feeling grow in his stomach as it had that day. "Karen committed suicide."

Aries gasped, her hands flying to her mouth to cover it. "No…"

Loke nodded. "Yes. And it was _my_ fault." He felt the urge to punch something. " _I_ made her kill herself. By breaking up with her. I wanted to die for so long after that. But I couldn't. I couldn't pull the trigger. H***, I couldn't even put the gun to my head." He let out a bitter laugh. "Instead, I took her lifestyle. I went out with any and every girl I met, playing with their feelings and dumping them the next day." He gave the pinkette a sad smile. "I told you I was a jacka**."

At first, Aries said nothing. She didn't know _what_ to say. Instead, she tightened her grip on his hand. "I forgive you."

Her words puzzled him. "What?"

"I forgive you," she repeated. "And I forgive Karen. I forgive any and all people who've done something wrong without considering the consequences, especially people who were drowning in grief and depression." She smiled at him. "I'm sorry if you think I should hate you, but I don't."

He wasn't sure how to react. Part of him wanted to sob and kneel at her feet. Another part wanted to worship the ground she walked on for the rest of her life. But what came out was…

Laughter.

He laughed so hard tears came to his eyes. He laughed so hard he couldn't speak. He laughed so hard he couldn't _breathe._

Aries paled at his sudden outburst. Had she said something wrong? Should she not have voiced those thoughts? "I-I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, pulling her hand out of his, face burning with shame. "I didn't mean to be –"

"No," he managed to choke out. "No, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just…" He was overcome by another bout of laughter. When he stopped, he leaned his forehead against the pinkette's. "You're amazing, you know that?" And then he kissed her.

It was soft, and gentle. Not forced on either end. A tentative wish, not a passionate heat. A hello and a goodbye.

A symbol of forgiveness.

When they pulled apart, both had small smiles on their faces.

"How was it?" Loke asked, a smirk dancing on his lips.

Aries giggled, not saying anything.

His grin widened. "I'll take that as a good sign. It gives me more confidence to ask you this." He laughed at the puzzled expression that crossed her features before continuing. "Maybe it's too early, but would you go on a date with me?"

Her eyes widened. "M-Me?"

He nodded.

She beamed at him. "Yes!" And then the smile disappeared. "But why?"

He chuckled. "To be honest, I should be asking _you_ why you'd actually agree to go on a date with _me._ "

"Because you're kind," she replied. "And you're trustworthy. You're strong, too. Like a lion." She turned a brilliant shade of red upon realizing she had spoken aloud. "Ah, I'm sorry if that was offensive!"

"Actually, that's got to be the best compliment I've ever received. As for why I want to go out with you…" He grinned at her. "I want to protect you. Because you're small, and really cute." He winked at her before adding. "Like a lamb."

She giggled at his comment. "A lion and a lamb."

"Definitely an odd combination," he mused, "but you know what they say: opposites attract."

"But we aren't _that_ different," she replied.

"We'll always be connected," he agreed. "Through our pasts, and hopefully our futures."

Aries blushed at what he was implying. "W-Well –"

"Too soon?" he laughed. "I'm sorry." For the first time, Loke saw a sparkle of joy in her maroon-violet eyes.

"That's my line."

xxxxxxxxx

 **AND DONE.**

 **Huh. I have mixed feelings about this one. Maybe I should just stop trying to write angst-y stuff.**

 **Whoops.**

 **Eh. Whatever.**

 **Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! I feel Lories is often underappreciated. They're a really cute couple, but I feel that they're truly connected on the emotional level, and so I tried to go with that. Turned out alright, I suppose. And I only had TWO flashbacks. WHOA. I've just been in this flashback phase as of late. Don't know why. *shrugs***

 **NEXT COUPLE: Er… Probably Stingue. Maybe AlBis? Don't know for sure. But** ** _after_** **whatever the next couple is, it'll be Jerza! So stick around if you're a hardcore Jerza fan.**

 **Fun Fact #2.** I almost made Loke act like a full-on womanizer around Aries, but I figured it just wouldn't play in well with the angst-y stuff n' stuff.


	4. Stingue

**WARNING:** This chapter _is_ Stingue, and _is_ therefore yaoi. There is no smut (seeing as that is neither the point of this story nor do I particularly _want_ to _write_ it) but there is some 'heated' stuff. (Totally Sting's fault, FYI.) If you don't like, or aren't comfortable with such, don't read. Not complicated.

 **At long last, I return, bringing with me another chapter of 'First Kiss'. I know you all missed me, right?**

 **Probably not.**

 **I don't have much else to say, other than that this chapter was very...** ** _Entertaining_** **to write and that I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Disclaimer:** All rights to Fairy Tail still belong to Hiro Mashima and not myself, unfortunately. And I claim no ownership over Harry Potter, either, even though the reference here is minuscule.

Stingue

"Well, you're pretty hot."

Rogue felt the blood rush to his cheek's at the blonde's words. It wasn't necessarily _rare_ for people to compliment his looks - the black-haired boy usually did his best to keep his distance from society as a whole -, but he certainly wasn't _used_ to it. Especially when the one doing the complimenting was a rather attractive man. _Enough,_ he scolded himself, trying to look away. _You just met him._

Sting paid notice to the fact that the dark-haired boy hadn't responded yet to his remark but was instead simply staring at him whilst blushing furiously. Sting almost laughed, unable to deny that the boy was cute with a pink blush dusting his cheeks. _H***, he's cute without it._ "Cat got your tongue?" he teased before running a hand through his white-blonde hair. "Guess I can't blame you for that. My good looks tend to leave most people speechless."

Rogue scowled at him, embarrassment forgotten. _I take back any thoughts about him being attractive,_ he decided. One sentence ruined it all by revealing the blonde's obnoxious and egotistical attitude. Despite his newly founded disgust, Rogue still chose not to speak, looking away from him with considerably less effort.

Sting frowned at the lack of response from the boy. "Are you ignoring me on purpose?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, unsure of if he should be offended by the scowl dominating the boy's features. Then a second idea occurred to him. "Or are you just shy?"

Once again, there was no verbal response from the dark-haired teen, but this time Sting _did_ receive a cold glare.

The blonde sighed in exasperation, already fed up with the boy's harsh silence. _And it hasn't even been two minutes,_ he thought dryly. _But what did I expect?_ "Look," he said coolly, "I understand that you might be too intimidated to talk to me - "

 _Intimidated, my a**,_ Rogue snorted silently. If anything, he wanted nothing at all to do with the conceited blonde.

" - but we need to at least try to communicate a bit, or else it's going to be awkward as h*** when we have to kiss."

 _Right_ , Rogue realized, sighing silently to himself. _I have to kiss this guy._ He sighed again. _Why am I always stuck with the narcissistic ones?_

An awkward silence fell as the two teens stared at each other, an unspoken challenge hanging in the air in order to see who would break first.

After a minute, Rogue realized he'd never done well in tests of willpower, particularly when faced with someone like the blonde standing across from him. "Rogue," he finally muttered, sighing quietly.

Sting smirked upon realizing he'd won the silent battle between, before it dawned on him how he'd been so caught up in his 'victory' that he hadn't truly noticed what the black-haired boy had said to him. "Care to repeat that for?" he asked casually, pretending as if all he wanted was to rub in that he'd won by not 'breaking' first. "Maybe a little _louder_?" he added, trying to make it seem as if the other was at fault, and not him.

Rogue bit his lip in a vain attempt to prevent himself from responding with a rather rude remark. The blonde was getting on his last nerve, no matter how attractive he was. _Wait... No, he's not attractive,_ the dark-haired teen scolded himself, blushing at those thoughts. _He's just another arrogant, stereotypical jock._ "Rogue," he said again, trying to distract himself from the 'inner turmoil' swirling around inside him. "My name is Rogue Cheney."

Sting almost whistled. _D***._ He took pride in having a unique name, but this guy had just topped it. He sent Rogue a flirtatious smile. "Well, I'm Sting. Sting Eucliffe."

Rogue knew that his cheeks had turned bright red _again_. It wasn't fair that someone so obnoxious was able to get him so flustered with only a few words and a simple smile. _Or a smirk,_ he grumbled to himself. In order to combat it, he decided to portray Sting in as negative a light as he could manage. "F***boy extraordinaire?" he asked innocently, hiding a smirk when the blonde's expression shifted to confusion.

Sting felt the smile drop from his face and morph into a glare. _Well, that was rude._ "That's pretty rich, seeing as you just met me and all." Who did he think he was, anyway? _A lame comeback,_ he realized after he'd spoken, _but better than saying nothing at all and letting him 'win' by default._

It was Rogue's turn to smirk, though his was more subtle than the loud-mouthed blonde's had been up until that point. "Perhaps," he said simply. "But am I wrong?" In all honesty, he didn't even require an answer. The blonde's attitude told him all he needed to know.

Sting opened his mouth to tell him that yes, he _was_ wrong, but snapped it shut upon realizing that the dark-haired boy wasn't _entirely_ incorrect. _I guess flirting with a bunch of guys kind of makes me_ seem _like a f***boy, even if I'm not_ technically _one,_ he reasoned _._ He settled with sending the boy another icy glare.

Rogue snorted, less intimidated - _If it could even be considered 'intimidation',_ he said to himself - by Sting as he had been seconds ago. "As I thought." If left alone to think, the teen doubted he ever would have considered the easiest way to get someone to shut up would just be to call their bluff, though it seemed obvious in retrospect.

"You shouldn't be so judgmental," Sting said mildly, mock-chastising him as a way to turn the metaphorical tables back around in his favor. "Especially if you want me to consider having you be my boyfriend after we've kissed and stuff - "

"No thanks," Rogue blurted out, causing himself to wince slightly upon hearing how rude he sounded. He hadn't intended his words and tone to be so blunt. But he couldn't turn back. _Ah, well._ "I'm not interested in guys like you."

"What do you mean?" Sting said innocently. "Implying that you aren't interested in guys that are labeled as being 'out of your league'?" _That should keep him from stereotyping me again,_ the blonde thought triumphantly.

The dark-haired boy felt his cheeks turn a deep shade of red, but this time out of anger instead of embarrassment. _How dare he...!_ "Try 'not interested in _f***boys_ '," he practically growled, glaring icily at the blonde.

Sting smirked at the reaction he was getting. "Sure, sure." He casually ran a hand through his hair. "You know you'd date me in a heartbeat if I let you." The blonde teen was aware that he was baiting Rogue for a response, but he couldn't help it. _He's kind of cute when he's mad, anyway,_ he admitted to himself, feeling a slight blush fall on his cheeks.

"I-I would _not_ ," Rogue sputtered, suddenly filled with an ever increasing desire to slap the blonde teen.

Sting's smirk widened, pleased with his 'work'. "You know, I think that blush on your face is contradicting the words coming out of your mouth." He took a step closer to the boy, grabbing his chin in his hand, forcing their eyes to meet. He inhaled sharply at how... _Red_ the dark-haired teen's eyes were. A genuine smile tugged at the corners of his lips. They suited him. "Just so you know, even though I'm _considerably_ out of your league, I really wouldn't mind making an exception for you..."

His face was dangerously close to Rogue's now, so close he could feel the blonde's hot breath on his face, and it was affecting the dark-haired teen more than he'd like to admit. _F***._ Rogue stared up at Sting's almost _malicious_ grin, and - he couldn't handle it.

 _Slap._

Rogue never had been the wisest person under pressure.

Sting swore loudly, stumbling backwards, a red print of a hand starting to form on his cheek already. "What the h***?!" Why had he _slapped_ him?! He hadn't done anything _wrong_! _Nothing wrong, per se..._ he admitted grudgingly. But that still had been no reason to for the boy to _slap_ him!

Rogue, realizing what he'd done, turned a darker shade of red. He opened his mouth to apologize, then promptly snapped it shut. He wasn't in the wrong, after all. The idiot blonde was. _He had no right to invade my personal space._ "Maybe now you'll think twice before grabbing my face without my permission," he muttered, pushing his black hair out of his face while staring at the floor.

Sting bit back another curse, though he had to admit his anger lessened slightly as he watched Rogue run a hand through his hair. _D***. He really is hot._ He shook his head, wincing as pain shot through his cheek, which in turn reminded him why he was supposed to be angry at the teen. "Mind telling me why the h*** I deserved to be _slapped_?"

Rogue muttered something incomprehensible.

" _What_?" Sting asked pointedly. "Mind sharing that?"

"You invaded my personal space," Rogue repeated, this time loud enough for the blonde to hear and understand. _Or I_ assume _he'll understand,_ the dark-haired boy thought rather cruelly, thought he wasn't particularly remorseful.

Sting winced. Okay, so maybe he _had_ deserved the slap.

But only a little bit.

"Right. Sorry."

Rogue snorted. _Sure you are._ The expression of something akin to loathing make Rogue skeptical of his sincerity. But despite that, the dark-haired teen wasn't the type to hold petty grudges. "It's fine. Just refrain from doing it again, if you would."

"Without permission, anyway," Sting added nonchalantly, proud of how 'smooth' he was able to phrase and deliver it, though the act was ruined when he winked flirtatiously at Rogue. _Not that it matters,_ he decided. _I can get him to like me even without pointless pickup lines._

Rogue's cheeks turned a deep shade of crimson as he understood the implication behind the blonde's words. _How does he continue to manage to make me blush?!_ "D-Don't do it again," he stuttered. "At all. No matter what the circumstances."

Sting chuckled, suddenly coming up with a brilliant idea of how to get the dark-haired teen to like him. It was rather risky, he decided, but he had his fingers crossed that it would pay off. "Oh, but I think I can change your mind."

Rogue was puzzled, and slightly wary of the glint in the other boy's blue eyes. "What are you - mmph!"

Sting practically leapt forward and essentially attacked the teen's lips with his own. He cupped the flustered boy's face in his hands, smirking into the kiss as he pressed their lips together harder. _Now everything else just has to follow the plan,_ he thought fervently before allowing himself to fall deeper into the kiss.

Rogue's eyes were wide as the blonde pressed his lips to his, unsure of exactly what was happening, though he really should have figured it out sooner. And then it hit him.

 _He's kissing me._

And _s***_ , it was a _good_ kiss.

The dark-haired teen couldn't stop himself from kissing back, despite how he'd already decided to loathe the boy. His hands wrapped around the blonde teen's muscular biceps by what felt like someone other than himself. He didn't no longer cared about the fact that he was contradicting his own words from only moments earlier.

Sting's smirk widened before he focused on dropping his hands to Rogue's waist and slowly pulling up the edges of his shirt.

 _That_ startled Rogue out of the reverie he couldn't believe he'd been lulled into. He quickly shoved the blonde away from him, wiping his mouth on his sleeve, disgusted with both Sting and himself. _To allow him to kiss me without consent...!_

Sting laughed out loud as he watched him, though he felt slightly guilty afterwards. "Was it that bad of a kiss?" he teased, snickering. "Because based on the way you were all over my face and groping my arms, it seemed like you enjoyed it a h*** of a lot." _I did, too, of course._

Rogue stared at the ground, completely and utterly humiliated that he'd fallen for the oldest trick in the book. The fact that the blonde was continuing to rub it in made it worse. "Shut up," he muttered angrily. "I was not 'all over you'."

" _Sure_ ," Sting said, continuing to snicker. "But I think anyone that may have seen us would disagree with you." Not that he _wanted_ someone to have watched them. The idea of it made him shudder. "Besides," he added, giving the moody boy a so-called 'dazzling' smile, "it wasn't as if I minded you doing it anyway."

 _I want to slap him again,_ was the main thought running through Rogue's mind as he hazily watched the blonde smirk through the veil of rage clouding his sight. _No..._ The veil of rage that _was_ his sight.

Sting frowned slightly when Rogue didn't react to his statement in any sort of negative manner. He wanted to see the teen flustered - it was cute. "So..." he said thoughtfully after considering the next possible options he had. "Did that change your mind?"

"About what?" Rogue asked plainly, once again refusing to make eye contact with the blonde. If he did, he didn't think he'd be able to maintain his sanity whilst remaining angry. _Why are the arrogant ones always the most good-looking?!_

"About going out with me."

Rogue felt his cheeks heat up. "I don't believe my opinion on that matter was subject to change," he answered as evenly as possible. Then his temper got the better of him. "I'm not interested in arrogant pricks like yourself." _S***,_ he thought after the words left his mouth. _That wasn't supposed to be said aloud._

Sting scowled. Was there no way to win with this guy? The blonde felt his temper flare up, as it did when he got frustrated. Which was most of the time. " _Me_? An 'arrogant prick'? Take a look in the mirror, _Rogue_ ," he snapped, using the teen's name for the first time. Despite how irritated he was, he had to admit that he liked the way Rogue's name sounded on his tongue. _Rogue._ "You're the one who isn't giving me a chance to prove to you that I'm _not_ like that, because you decided that I _must_ be a f***boy, and _your_ opinion is _fact_." He glared at him. "Tell me I'm wrong."

Rogue returned the glare, sending as threatening of a one as he could muster towards the blonde, taking his eyes off the ground. "If your way of proving to me that you _aren't_ a f***boy, _Sting_ , is to _act_ like one by _grabbing_ me and _kissing_ me against my will, then perhaps _you_ should reconsider your methods of getting a point across." He wondered how the boy ever thought _kissing_ an unwilling person could benefit him somehow. "So _yes_ , as far as I'm concerned, my opinion on your behavior reflects how I view you."

A test of wills began for the second time. It was intense yet awkward, seeing as both were sending fiery glares to the other, yet no one spoke.

This time, it was Sting who 'broke' first.

The blonde sighed, breaking off eye contact with Rogue. The dark-haired boy somehow managed to make him feel guilty - a feat few people had accomplished. "Fine. I get that I'm being an a**hole towards you. Sorry. But you need to be less 'stingy' or something, and actually _give me a f***ing chance_ , or else _this_ ," he said, gesturing to the two of them, "will never go _anywhere_."

Rogue nodded stiffly, pretending he hadn't understood the meaning behind the blonde's final sentence. Putting that aside, he knew that, in part, he too had been in the wrong by immediately jumping to conclusions about the blonde, no matter how much basis he had. "Fair enough." He coughed awkwardly. "How about we just... Start over?"

Sting grimaced, unable to stop himself. "Ugh. Really? That's so cheesy."

"Then what do _you_ recommend?" Rogue asked, trying - and failing because of his tone - to be impartial, though he was filled with a desire to wrap his hands around the blonde's neck and choke the life out of him.

The blonde shrugged, not picking up on Rogue's subtle hints of annoyance. "Not sure." A smirk formed on his lips as a devious idea occurred to him, and he threw the black-haired boy a sideways look. "You know... We could always kiss again."

Rogue blanched before flushing a pretty shade of pink. "I don't think that will solve anything," he protested, taking a weak step backwards. _Don't fall for his ways, Rogue. It'll only hurt you in the end._ But no matter what his mind told him, his heart wasn't really listening.

Sting grinned, shrugging again. "We'll never know until we try, right?" Secretly, the boy was pleased to note the blush dancing on Rogue's cheeks. _He looks so cute. And yet hot at the same time._

"N-No, but - "

"Don't be so stiff," Sting said in an almost predatory manner, taking a step towards the boy. "It's not like it'll kill us or anything, you know." The blonde had always been rather bad at forethought, not considering the effects his actions might have on others, or even on himself.

Rogue knew his cheeks had gone from pink to cherry red. _Like a teenage schoolgirl,_ he thought in embarrassment. "I-I'd rather not."

Sting rolled his eyes. "What are you, an old man? Live a little." At that, he pressed his lips to Rogue's a second time.

Rogue somehow managed to notice throughout his furious yet flustered haze that he was being more gentle with the kiss. _Not nearly as forceful._ But when Rogue weakly tried to push him away, wanting yet not wanting to be kissing him, the blonde seemed to take it as an invitation to deepen the kiss. _Do I even mind...?_

Sting slowly slid his hands underneath the dark-haired teen's shirt, trailing his fingers up and down Rogue's chiseled chest.

Rogue shivered at the feeling of his touch, though he was unsure whether it was one of disgust or pleasure. But when the blonde attempted to stick his tongue in his mouth, he realized that that was enough. He forcefully shoved Sting off of him, though this time he didn't wipe his mouth of the boy's _saliva_ immediately.

He waited until Sting was smirking at him to do it.

And then he slapped him. _Again._

 _Slap._

Rogue had to admit that he was rather pleased of how the sound echoed in the room.

"What the h***?!" Sting exclaimed, furiously rubbing his cheek, where the red mark from earlier still hadn't faded entirely. "Stop hitting me!" _What did I do to deserve_ that _one?! He_ consented _to the kiss this time!_ He hesitated. _Kind of._

It was Rogue's turn to smirk.

Sting glared at him. "I'm getting a serious sense of déjà vu here." And he wasn't happy about it. _He's lucky he's too cute for me to hit back._

Rogue rolled his eyes. _And so you should be._ "That's what you get for throwing yourself onto me a second time." Had the blonde really and truly expected him to not have reacted in that sort of way?! _Honestly,_ he thought with a sigh.

Sting sighed. "I guess my idea of kissing you again to get you to like me failed." _Not that I regret it,_ he thought absentmindedly, licking his lips. The only thing he regretted was that it _hadn't_ worked. _Like when you're told to clean your room, so you shove everything under your bed,_ he mused, _and then you're caught. Do you regret doing it? No. You regret getting caught._

"Of course it failed," Rogue sneered, almost shocked by his own rudeness. "Besides, don't you think I can tell that you only want to have..." He paused, trying to think of a less vulgar way to describe... _It_. "That you only want to _use_ me?"

Sting frowned, disgusted and offended by the teen's words. " _Use_ you?" he said incredulously, unable to believe that Rogue had just said that to him. Though the blonde was labeled a f***boy by most that he met, and he usually did nothing to dispel such rumors - because he didn't _care_ about them -, he was _not_ some sort of guy that slept with anything that moved. "Rogue, I don't want to _use_ you. H***, I _like_ you! A lot!"

"How can you?" Rogue demanded through gritted teeth, his patience running thin. _Not that it hasn't been already._ "You just met me, _and_ you know nothing about me, excepting my name, much less my personality and the like. _Plus_ , I'm not even looking for a relationship right now, and of course not a one-time fling."

Sting sighed. "Fine. Then how can I prove it to you?" He'd do anything.

"Prove _what_ to me?" _There's nothing for you to prove_.

He rolled his eyes. _It's obvious._ "That I'm genuinely interested in you?" _Duh._

Rogue opened his mouth to fire back a sharp retort, but despite searching his brain for one, came up with nothing. He ended up muttering, "You can't." There was no way.

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know anything about me!"

Sting shrugged. "Well, that's not a hard problem to solve. Just tell me about yourself." He was rather impressed with himself for coming up with a solution so quickly, not to mention it was a simple one. _Simplicity is convenience._

Rogue blinked in surprise. "What?"

Sting blushed, slightly embarrassed by what he was going to admit. _That he was right._ "Like you suggested. Before I kissed you."

The dark-haired teen vaguely remembered saying something after the _first_ kiss he'd be given along the lines of how they should start over and decide how their relationship - _Nonexistent relationship,_ he corrected himself - could move on from there.

Sting snapped his fingers as a _brilliant_ idea, in his opinion, came to mind. "Here's what we'll do: we'll tell each other some basic stuff about ourselves, and if we like what we hear - or rather, if _you_ like what _you_ hear - then I am allowed to take you out on a date." He grinned at the moody boy, certain there was no way he could refuse. "Deal?"

Rogue bit his bottom lip, gnawing it slightly as a force of habit as he weighed the pros and cons of going on a date with the blonde inside his mind. The main con was Sting's personality, but he'd improved - _Slightly,_ the teen told himself - within the past minute. Or at the very least, he was acting less arrogant, even if it _was_ turning into what could be described as 'childishness'. _And even if the date goes downhill,_ he realized, _I can still say I was on a date with an attractive guy._ Though the thought still embarrassed him, the dark-haired teen no longer denied the fact that the blonde standing only a few feet away from him was rather good-looking. He'd never go so far as to say _hot_ , of course, but good-looking would suffice.

Sting waited anxiously as various expressions drifted across Rogue's face, though he knew the nonchalant smirk on his own revealed no hints toward such turmoil within him. He hid it well, but he really _did_ want to go out with Rogue. However, what he didn't know was... Did Rogue want to go out with _him_?

Rogue sighed, relenting after much debate in his mind. "Fine."

Instead of cheering, Sting simply allowed his smirk to widen. _Play it cool._ "Great," he almost purred. "Want me to go first?"

Rogue felt blood rush to his cheeks at the blonde's tone, and it was as frustrating as it was humiliating that someone he'd known for all of ten minutes could do that to him. "Whatever," he muttered, glaring the floor as if it would somehow affect the predicament he was in.

Sting laughed at the dark-haired boy, but not mockingly. A genuine laugh. He couldn't help it that Rogue was so cute, could he? After noticing the teen's jaw clench slightly upon hearing his laughter, he stopped, his expression resorting to its normal cocky grin. "I'm Sting Eucliffe." _Which he already knows. S***!_ He hastily added, "I'm nineteen years old and a sophomore at Sabertooth University."

Rogue's pulse suddenly quickened at hearing the blonde's words. _No... Sabertooth University?_ It couldn't be true. It was impossible. A coincidence.

Sting didn't notice the dark-haired teen's shock, continuing to talk about himself as if it was the most fascinating subject on the planet. "I'm majoring in Physical Therapy, but I'm also the 'backup' running back on the football **(A/N American football;** ** _FIGHT ME_** **)** team. A junior is the starter," he added with a good-natured scowl, "but he's so good that he'll be gone and drafted to the pros next year, so hopefully the position will be mine. And... Yeah." He winked at Rogue. "I'm also a Gryffindor, by the way."

Rogue rolled his eyes the blonde's childish behavior, then decided to 'test' him. "But I'm a Slytherin, so you should despise me." The black-haired boy wasn't entirely sure _what_ he was testing Sting on, but his reaction could help determine his true personality.

"Nah," Sting said dismissively, though the smirk didn't quite fall from his face. "We'll be the ones who start the new generation where Gryffindors and Slytherins are the best of friends. Or more," he added offhandedly, though his discreet glance sideways wasn't missed by Rogue.

The moody teen gave him a small smile, slowly admitting to himself that seeing Sting in this light wasn't so bad. "Maybe."

Sting beamed at him. Progress was _definitely_ being made. Maybe he stood a chance after all. "Now tell _me_ all about yourself." He winked. "I can keep a secret if you need me to."

The dark-haired teen sighed but didn't protest. "As you know, my name is Rogue Cheney. I'm 19 years old, and I _also_ attend Sabertooth University as a sophomore." _Let's see what you say to_ that _bit of information,_ he thought smugly.

Sting's jaw dropped. "Um, _what_?" That was impossible. There was no way he could have been at Sabertooth for nearly a year and a half and _not_ have seen someone as attractive as Rogue walking around.

Rogue simply nodded, praying his facial expression was as neutral as he felt it was. "Yes. I'm majoring in Psychology and minoring in Chemistry."

Sting held up a hand to stop him. "Hang on for a sec. I need to think something through." _Rogue Cheney... Psychology... Sabertooth..._

S***.

A year and a half ago, freshman year... "That was you, wasn't it?"

Rogue frowned, feeling like he'd missed something important relating to the conversation at hand. "What are you talking about?"

Sting cringed at the memory. "The beginning of freshman year I was walking by the Psychology building, and accidentally tripped some guy - well I tripped and knocked _over_ a guy which made him spill all his papers..."

Rogue's eyes widened, recalling shouting angrily at the back of a handsome blonde as he'd run off without a word. "I remember that..." He glared at Sting. " _You're_ the one who knocked me over and didn't offer to help me when I was trying to get all my papers back together?" Perhaps his subconscious had been right not to 'trust' him.

Sting laughed nervously, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Yeah. Sorry about that?" He wasn't sure whether an apology was required. It _had_ been over a year ago, after all.

Rogue glared at him, not bothering to thank the blonde for the insincere apology. "You should be. I was late for my class after that and almost got locked out of the room, _and_ it was the day we were learning about the effects of hallucinogenic drugs on the brain, which was over _half_ the final."

Sting wracked his brain for a reply that _wouldn't_ make him seem like a jerk, finally settling with, "Well, if it's any consolation, I thought you were the hottest guy I'd seen the whole time I was there."

Rogue blushed but rolled his eyes. _Trying to change the topic again._ "You're just saying that."

Sting shook his head, smirking, almost pleased that the dark-haired teen didn't believe him. "Nope! And if I'm honest, I have to say that you've only gotten more attractive since then."

"Sh-Shut up."

Sting laughed at how flustered he was. _And it was_ me _who got him all like that,_ he thought with satisfaction. "Alright. But since we know now that we both go to Sabertooth University, we can make our relationship public when school starts back up! Maybe all those freshmen girls will stop pestering me now." Some of them just couldn't take a hint.

Rogue felt blood rush to his cheeks at the blonde's sudden proclamation. "I-I don't recall consenting to be in a relationship with you." _Did I?_ He couldn't quite recall what he'd promised the teen.

"Oh, I _see_ ," Sting said in a tone bordering suggestiveness, doing his best not to burst out laughing at how wide the dark-haired boy's eyes became. "I have to take you on that date first, don't I?"

"What do you - oh." Rogue blushed a deeper shade of red as he was finally able to recall the terms of the 'deal' he'd agreed to. "Right."

Sting laughed again, throwing his arm around the boy's shoulders. "Rogue, you're such a girl, you know that?" And though he hadn't meant to share the thought aloud, he decided that it was true enough.

Rogue sent him an icy glare, though he made no move to shrug Sting's arm off of him. "I am _not_ a girl, thank you very much." If the blonde continued to insult him in a such a manner, then perhaps he'd have to revert to his original opinion of Sting being the f***boy of f***boys.

"Well, you're the girl in _this_ relationship," Sting said decidedly, in a tone that would take no arguing.

"I am _not_ the girl!" Rogue protested fiercely, ignoring the subtle message.

"You said that already," the blonde replied airily, as if he didn't have a care in the world. "I can hear quite well, you know."

"You can hear things, but you can't comprehend them," the moody boy grumbled. "I don't know why I'm even bothering."

Sting snickered. "What, are you saying that _I'm_ the girl?"

 _His smile is infuriatingly handsome,_ Rogue thought in frustration as he glared at the blonde, trying to stop his thoughts from straying from the topic at hand. "No, I'm trying to say that we're _both_ guys, and it's not necessary to call one of us 'the girl'."

Sting shrugged nonchalantly. "Maybe. But it's fun." He winked at the dark-haired boy for what had to have been the hundredth time in the span of twenty minutes. "Besides, you look so cute when you get embarrassed. I had to tease you a bit."

Rogue's eyes widened before he shoved the boy away from him, suddenly not wanting to be close to the blonde. "Enough flirting," he grumbled. "I still don't understand why you want to go out with me in the first place. All you had to do was kiss me for the stupid experiment, yet you insist now that..." He trailed off, frustrated that he was struggling so much to find the right words. "You insist that we're in a relationship," he finally said.

Sting rolled his eyes. As cute as he was, the moody teen was so oblivious. "Rogue, I already told you why I wanted to go out with you so badly."

Rogue frowned. _Did he?_ It wasn't that he hadn't been paying attention as the blonde spoke, but he had a tendency to get wrapped up in his own thoughts.

"I like you," Sting continued matter-of-factly. "Simple as that."

"It's _not_ that simple," Rogue protested weakly, not sure if he could believe those words to be true. "Nothing is _ever_ that simple."

"But why not?" Piercing blue eyes met with the ones that were such a brown they appeared red. "Why _can't_ things be that simple?"

Rogue didn't know how to say it. "Because..." He ran his hands through his dark hair, trying to think and not be distracted by the brilliantly icy blue eyes staring at him. "Because you're 'cool'," he finally said, making sure to do hand quotation marks in order to prevent the wrong idea from being given. "You've probably got a wide circle of friends. You're also an _athlete_." _Football,_ he snorted. _The worst sport you could play in this scenario. Stereotypes all around._ "I'm the exact opposite of you. I couldn't care less about sports, and I hate being around other people. Why are you - of all people on this planet - so fascinated with me? With someone so _different_?"

Sting shrugged. "If you want me to be honest, here's the truth: I don't really know."

Rogue felt his heart sink. Just when he'd hoped that _someone_ might like him for who he was... _Of course not_.

"But," Sting continued, "what I _do_ know is that even though I don't know the reasons behind it, I _do_ like you. Maybe it's because we're so different, or maybe it's only because you're cute." The blonde shrugged. "But what matters is that I _do_ like you, and I want to go out with you." He eyed the dark-haired teen from the side, suddenly worried he'd think all he cared about was appearances. "Understand?" he asked, needing an answer.

Rogue bit his lip, staring at the ground.

"Rogue?" Sting asked after a moment of quiet, feeling the pit of worry in his stomach grow.

"Hmm?"

Sting chuckled. "Thought you'd forgotten about me for a moment there." He grabbed the boy's hands and pulled him close. "So..." the blonde whispered into his ear. "Will you go out with me?"

Rogue's eyes widened from the feeling of Sting's hot breath on his ear, but he choked down his pride and nodded. "Yes." _I hope I don't regret it._

Sting grinned as if he'd won the lottery, but it quickly morphed into something 'seductive'. "Now," he murmured, pushing Rogue up against the wall. "Where were we before we got into this stupid argument?" He leaned in, and their lips met in what should have been a heated kiss, except...

 _Slap._

"Ow! Rogue, are you f***ing kidding me?!"

xxxxxxxxx

 **And, done. I think this chapter is a bit heavy on details, so I apologize. But other than that, I'm pretty satisfied with it. And... No flashbacks! Good job me! :D**

 **[Though it was partially intended, I still love how Sting went from being an absolute a** to being practically a little kid, yet he was actually really immature 'inside' the entire time. XD And then Rogue was like a stuffy old guy on the outside, but actually a nervous teenager on the inside.]**

 **Hope this chapter was satisfactory, and I'll try to update soon! And in case it wasn't obvious earlier with my A/N in the middle of the fic, I LOVE my American football, be it college or pro. :P**

 **NEXT COUPLE: Jerza, m'dears! I'm sure y'all are quite excited for that. Fingers crossed it'll be up soon!**

 **Fun Fact #3:** You have no idea how close this chapter came to being the 'awkward gay couple' before I thought of making Sting act like a f***boy. And then came the idea of Sting pretending he liked 'hot' guys, but he actually likes it when they're 'cute'. And kudos to one of my friends in real life for giving me the analogy about why we _really_ regret things!


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